A Cabinet official jetted to Florida over the weekend to press President Donald Trump to hone his message on tariffs — and put anxious Americans at ease — or watch the financial markets continue to crater, according to a report.
Scott Bessent flew Sunday and warned Trump that the markets would continue to spiral if he didn't emphasize his endgame when it comes to his trade war, Politico reported.
“Bessent’s view was, ‘The markets will keep melting unless you shift,’” one person familiar with the conversations told the outlet. “You’re not going to abandon the policy, but you have to talk about negotiating and what the endgame is.”
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Bessent, the outlet noted, is the first known Trump adviser who has tried to persuade the president to change how he talks about trade, "albeit privately and gently." Bessent has kept his suggestions strictly to messaging, but Trump may now be open to allowing "more room publicly for negotiations — including the possibility of cutting back on some of the aggressive international trade barriers he announced last week."
The report comes after Trump enacted a slew of tariffs and sent financial markets into a nosedive. Last week, he announced a baseline 10% tariff on all U.S. imports. Some countries saw rates ranging from 11% to 50%.
Tariffs on Chinese imports were hiked to an effective rate of 54%, while a 25% tariff was imposed on most imports from Canada and Mexico, and improts from the European Union were hit with a 20% tariff.